To Good To Be True: Private Prisons in America

Dear Friends,

I'm pleased to share with you a new report from The Sentencing Project, Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America. The report details the history of private prisons in America, documents the increase in their use, and examines their purported benefits.

Among the report's major findings:

•  From 1999 to 2010 the use of private prisons increased by 40 percent at the state level and by 784 percent in the federal prison system.
•  In 2010 seven states housed more than a quarter of their prison population in private facilities.
•  Claims of private prisons' cost effectiveness are overstated and largely illusory.
•  The services provided by private prisons are generally inferior to those found in publicly operated facilities.
•  Private prison companies spend millions of dollars each year attempting to influence policy at the state and federal level.

The full report, Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America, includes a comprehensive chart on state and federal privatization levels, as well as detailed graphs and data on the lobbying and contribution activities of Corrections Corporation of America.

We hope you find this publication useful in your work and we encourage you to be in touch with the author of the report, Program Associate Cody Mason at cmason@sentencingproject.org.